Sure, Bruce Willis played a Navy SEAL in 2013 who wants to bring some “Die Hard”-like bravado to a mission. But our pick for the best Saturday Night Live segment that has featured the U.S. Navy is from the early days. Datelined in Bayonne, New Jersey, this 1979 parody of the Navy’s commercial – “It’s not just a job. It’s an adventure.” — features sailors at work. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhioeOeOHsA] Some thoughts from our staff writer Mark D. Faram, who at the time it aired was a photographer’s mate airman aboard the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy: Was on the ship this…
Browsing: Recruiting
The folks at Jalopnik get credit for this discovery. Stay tuned until the final frame: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkO6VmnZqJk[/youtube] Sure, the special warfare combatant-craft crewman recruiting ad’s got the traditional blazing guns and the rousing soundtrack, but what’s your take on the twist? Too silly for a serious riverine outfit, or a memorable image suited for what’s becoming a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it youth culture? Also, how long until the request-for-proposals goes out for the AquaKiller 3000 Automated Networked Geosynchronous Lightweight Ergonomic Ray (ANGLER)? At some point, you have to take the fight to the fish. The video went up Friday on YouTube and already has…
Joe Sanes served his country during wartime for six years and survived a torpedo sinking his ship — all before he graduated boot camp. Sanes, a World War II veteran, officially graduated from boot camp on June 14, more than 70 years after he enlisted in the Navy, a Navy release said. The young sailor had only been in boot camp for four weeks in 1941 when Pearl Harbor was bombed; he was immediately assigned to the destroyer Hammann, never graduating. “After 72 years, I am proud and happy to be a part of this graduation,” the 91-year-old said in…
Cmdr. Flex Plexico has been widely recognized for having one of the coolest names in the Navy, and now his fame has stretched all the way Down Under. Plexico, spokesman for Navy Recruiting Command in Millington, Tenn., was ranked seventh on a list of the top 25 most unusual names by the Daily Dot, in between Dutch politician Tiny Kox and Australian submarine designer Hans Ohff. The list, which notes Plexico’s name would be good for a WWE wrestler, was culled from the @NameCurator Twitter feed, where Australia resident Ben Osborne posts funny, unique names of real people. It’s the latest…
The U.S. Navy is obviously downsizing and by many accounts losing some darn good sailors in the convoluted process — all due to the ongoing economic downturn and pressure on overall defense spending. Staunch ally Great Britain is facing the same sorts of pressures and trimming its forces. Meanwhile, the military of another strong ally, Australia, is struggling to recruit enough able bodies — so much so that according to this report, the Royal Australian Navy has sent a delegation to Britain to hunt for engineers and submariners who’ve been cut from the force. One study cites a need for…
The Navy nabbed a lot of headlines again this week. Leading the way is news that the Green Hornet on Thursday took to flight – the fighter jet, not the super hero. The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet was powered by a 50/50 blend of biofuel and JP-5. That same day, a U.S. military jury cleared a Navy SEAL of failing to prevent the beating of an Iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding a 2004 attack that killed four American security contractors. Two others will soon have their day in court. And on Wednesday, the Navy implemented its first change in 17 years to…
